November 30, 2010

My friend, Johnna, is a Craft Queen. Nay, not merely a queen, but the Queen of the Craft Universe. A crafty artist, an artistic craftswoman. A Seamstress. A Cake Decorator. A Gluer Extraordinaire. (Johnna was hot-gluing things together long before I even dreamed that glue could be heated.) She has the ability to inspire awe in my children. (This reminds me of the time when Ramona was about four years old and was admiring my sister's interior decorating skills. "Mommy!" she said breathlessly, "Aunt Kathy made this clock out of air!" My children have never thought me capable of conjuring something from air. But I digress.) Johnna's latest creation is a beautiful fabric Advent calendar which serves as a home for her Jesse Tree ornaments:

Each green pocket holds an index card with a note for a daily activity as well as one of these:

Johnna's other recent idea was an Advent-Saver for me this year. I searched all over town and couldn't find our usual "chocolate-a-day" calendars anywhere. Granted, we have plenty of other Advent activities and calendars, but the daily chocolate is a must. In true Karen-Shortcut style, I thought I'd just throw a bowl of chocolates on the dining room table and invite the kids to have one every day. (My other thought was to make a calendar on poster board using old Christmas cards as the pockets, but we all know I probably wouldn't have gotten it done in time for this Advent ....) What I would have considered a major project (because it involved plugging in the glue gun), Johnna saw as a blip in her day. My kids were hanging out at her house anyway so she decided, "Why not take care of this little problem?" They made these:

A Hershey kiss for every day of Advent, glued to ribbons. Primo candy at the top, for the Twelve Days of Christmas and Epiphany:

The girls just pop one off each day, all the while thanking their lucky stars for Magical Mrs. M.

These books are golden, and worth repeating every year. They explain so clearly the Liturgical Year and the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas; they are the perfect catechesis for both children and adults. The text is wonderfully supported by the rich flowing illustrations I'm crazy about the illustrations by Franco Vignazia. The images themselves are catechetical in nature -- just like the old illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows that even young children and illiterate faithful could learn and contemplate great mysteries of the faith. Vignazia's is reminiscent of various methods, like religious icons and illuminated manuscripts. My sons have loved just to gaze at the beautiful illustrations for long periods at a time.

I decided to break the books down so that they would last through Advent. I know there will be days we'll add and subtract. The sections are short, but meaty. I'd like to keep them smaller for the most part to leave time to soak in the richness. We'll begin on the First Sunday of Advent, November 29. The readings are small chunks, skipping Saturdays, but including Sundays. Looking ahead to the Christmas season, I know we won't be doing much formal studying, so I'm going to include reading about the Christmas season in Advent.

We will begin with An Introduction to the Liturgical Year by Inos Biffi, as this is the beginning of the new Liturgical Year. We will read the Part One: Advent and Christmas Seaons during the first two weeks of Advent.

For a few years now we have hung a round liturgical calendar in our kitchen, discussed, and tried living the liturgical year in various ways. Every liturgical year cycle we are called to go in deeper into the Paschal Mystery, to understand more so that we can love and serve God even more. An Introduction to the Liturgical Year is the next step in understanding the symbolism and meaning of the various liturgical seasons and feasts.

On the Third Sunday of Advent we will begin The Way to Bethlehem by Inos Biffi which covers similar items as the first book, but a little more detailed at the Nativity story. Both these books cover the coming of the Messiah, with the prophecies, the prophets, the forerunners of Christ, the key Advent figures that lead to His birth in Bethlehem, and also the saints of the season.

On December 8, we take a break to view The Life of Mary. I'm finishing up the school year on the 23rd.

This is usually how it works for us. We have a LOT of stuff going on before Thanksgiving (like the Library Tree) and then we tend to go away for the entire Thanksgiving weekend. We get back and, bam, Advent is upon us. For this reason, I HAVE to keep my plans reasonably simple AND not allow myself to get stressed if things don't go perfectly or if I don't get everything started on day one.

My kids are all sleeping. They probably will be for awhile since we got home late last night AND Frank was sick during the night. So I'm making my plans to get Advent going this morning. I feel like I already have a jump start on our usual plans since I did manage to pull out the Advent volume of the Liturgy of the Hours for last night's Evening Prayer.

We have a simple wooden manger my father-in-law made for us years ago. It goes with an inexpensive baby doll. We cut up strips of yellow construction paper and the kids put a piece into the manger when they do a good deed. Baby Jesus arrives on Christmas Eve to a nice cushy manger.

And it really is the first (as in the most important to us) thing I think about setting up - even before the Advent Wreath.

2. Set up our Advent Wreath AND buy candles from a reliable local source (we'll be heading there today anyway). This also involves putting a few leaves in the table that we haven't been using for dinner lately (we usually eat around the kitchen counter, which has a lower counter for eating at).

3. Pull out the pink and purple construction paper so the kids can make their Advent chains.

4. I may or may not get some of the books and our Advent DVD pulled out while I'm getting the rest of the pieces together.

What I'll probably get to later:

1. Take out our Jesse Tree ornaments and put a Bible on the mantle for easy access to read the readings. We're always a bit hit-and-miss on this one.

2. Put the Nativity set stable out with the pieces that would be there initially - like the shepherds and animals - and place Mary and Joseph at the other end of the house to start their journey.

Later Still:

We get some things set up in time for special days during Advent. Our most consistent days for celebration are: St. Nicholas Day (hang stockings the night before), the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (get to Mass, bake a cake), Our Lady of Guadalupe (try to get to Mass, have a yummy Mexican dinner) and St. Lucy's Day (the kids pretty much handle this one by baking late into the night on the previous night and waking us up early with breakfast in our room the morning of).

These are some lovely free print-outs I'd like to put together for our two youngest readers:

P.S. The picture is of Frank posing with his Advent Chain last year. The chain has extra large links and makes Frank look like a midget! :) The kids cut and staple their chains themselves and, of course, take off one link each day until Christmas. They really love this tradition!

P.P.S. First child just woke up (8 year old Kate). I asked her if she knew what today was. She said, "Lent!". I waited for a second and she continued, "No, Advent!". I asked her what that meant we got to do today. She answered, "Make Advent chains!" She's working on it already. ;)

Elizabeth Foss compiled a post of her Advent and Christmas links and traditions. Many of these have become traditions in my own family.

Barbara Curtis at Mommy Life has weeded out some lovely children's Nativity Sets. I have a few of them and there is real value in making some available to the little ones to play with. It's so sweet to see your four year old acting out the Christmas story with their own Nativity Set.

Just as a reminder you might want to make a New Year's celebration part of your weekend. The first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of the Church's new liturgical year so a New Year's Eve party is perfectly appropriate and really almost a necessity. Who needs another reason to drink champagne? Why we all do. Don't forget that we are part of a faith tradition that recognizes the value in a good celebration. So bring out your party hats and noisemakers and let the children party the new year in.

November 25, 2010

Contributed by Catholic author Tanja Cilia a challenging wordsearch! Print out the PDF file and see how your children do. The solution is included in the printout.Hi dden in the grid are the names of 36 Saints whose feast days fall in December. Not all of them are well known so there is a teachable moment here! You find the saints be searching in eight directions. Have fun and leave a comment if you or one of your children finds them all.

I have found that a key to living the Liturgical Year in the home is having meditative sources so the child can quietly look, explore, read, examine, and ponder all these things in his heart and make it his own. He needs to make his own connections.

There are all sorts of different approaches, such as displays, artwork, figures to touch, crafts, and books. Now that my 7 year old is such an avid reader, I'm finding the combination of both pictures and words really speak to his heart. So I thought I would provide little tidbits to think through Advent on his own, combining the Advent Calendar with something that was little and portable. I was also going to use the same idea for his homeschool Advent retreat, aiming at children from Kindergarten to 2nd grade.

The result is My Little Advent. These are little cards, to cut, hole-punch (and children love to punch holes!), and place on a loose-leaf ring (such as these or these, that can be left as is, or put on a pipe cleaner, shoelace or lanyard. I gave one to my son already and he is just constantly flipping through the cards, singing verses to O Come, Emmanuel and pondering and wondering in quiet. When not in use it hangs on our pantry door near our kitchen table.

November 23, 2010

"One of the great artists of the early Italian Renaissance, Piero della Francesca painted religious works that are marked by their simple serenity and clarity. He was also interested in geometry and mathematics and was known for his contributions in these fields". (Source - WebMuseum)

In this painting the Child is laying in what appears to be his Mother's cloak while she kneels in Adoration. Joseph is behind hands clasped in prayer.

The painting definitely reflects the influence of Della Franscesca's surroundings, Bethlehem having a distinct Tuscan feel to it.

Christmas Novena

Hail and blessed be the hour
and moment
in which the Son of God
was born of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight,
in Bethlehem,
in piercing cold.
In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God!
to hear my prayer
and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother.
Amen